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Quick Look: In Schools, Teachers Praise Risk-Taking and Resilience

Jan 17, 2012

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Following the theme of MindShift articles about praising effort over smarts, this article highlights a new tack teachers are taking in what attributes they praise in their students.

Source: Washingtonpost

For decades, the prevailing wisdom in education was that high self-esteem would lead to high achievement. The theory led to an avalanche of daily affirmations, awards ceremonies and attendance certificates - but few, if any, academic gains. Now, an increasing number of teachers are weaning themselves from what some call empty praise.